Bold Prayers (Luke 11:5–8)

And Jesus said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I’ve nothing to set him.’ And he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he’s his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will arise and give him whatever he needs.”
– Luke 11:5–8

I love this story. Get the picture: first-century Palestine. Food is not quite as readily available as it is today, so no late-night Taco Bells. There’s a battle for bread. Every day you bake enough each day to meet that day’s needs.

So a guy shows up at his buddy’s house at midnight and he’s hungry. Now, hospitality was huge, so the buddy has a dilemma. One option: he can be a poor host and not give this guy any food, or a second option is to try to find some bread from somebody else when it’s really late at night. So it’s either be a poor host or a poor neighbor, and this guy takes what’s behind door number two. His neighbor’s already fast asleep, enjoying his dreams. Not only him asleep, but everybody in his house asleep. Houses in that day were one-room affairs, which means you get all the kids down in one room, there’s nobody getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom without causing a major commotion in that house.

So everything’s quiet. This guy is asleep on the mat with his wife and kids. All of a sudden a knock comes at the door. The guy on the outside says, “Friend,” which is a good way to start when you’re waking somebody up at midnight for a piece of bread, because this friendship thing is walking a tight line at this point. Because I just picture, when this dad wakes up, he starts looking around, and little eyes on the mat next to him are starting to pop open.

Luke 11:5–8 calls us to be relentless in prayer.

It’s one thing to wake up dad. It’s a whole nother ball game when you’re waking up kids in the middle of the night. Like this friend thing is seriously in question, so the guy inside’s not too happy. He says, in the most polite way possible, “Don’t bother me. I’m not getting up and giving you anything.” Then Jesus says that even though the guy won’t get up because he’s his friend, because that’s in question, he will get up because this guy is impudent, which means bold, literally shameless. He keeps asking and asking until the dad gets out of bed and gives him some bread.

Now, what’s interesting about parables is we hear them and we think, okay, somebody in the parable is me. Somebody in the parable is God. So the disciples are thinking, “I think we’re like the guy who’s knocking on the door. So who is God? The grumpy guy inside yelling don’t bother me. That’s weird.” What is Luke 11 teaching us about prayer? Well, if you want something from God, you just keep banging on the door and eventually he’ll get up and do something for you, not because he loves you, but because you’ve bothered him to death. Let’s pray. Is that the point of the story? No. The whole point of the story comes back to this word impudence or boldness or shamelessness. Some say it means annoyingly relentless, and we’ll only understand this story rightly when we look through the lens of this man in need.

Luke 11:5–8 calls us to pray with boldness.

Jesus tells the whole story from his perspective. Jesus says, imagine if you were bold enough, shameless enough to go to your friend at midnight just to ask him for a piece of bread. This guy is shameless. He thinks, “Well, I know it’s the middle of the night and he and his whole family are asleep, but I need some bread and I know he has got it. So he won’t mind me bothering him in the middle of the night.”

And Jesus is saying, that is how we should approach God. We should approach God as the one who we know has what we need, and we should be shameless, and bold, in going to him and asking for what we need. This is where we realize that the God of the universe, who has all sovereignty, and all ownership of all things, has actually invited you and me to come to God anytime for anything.

You just think about the boldness that prayer involves, to go to God and almost say, “I know it feels weird to interrupt you because you’re running a universe and you’ve got all these things going on, but I need you to listen to me and help me in some things I need to share with you.” That’s shameless, in a sense. That’s bold, almost ludicrous to go into the presence of the God of the universe. But Jesus is saying, be as shameless as you want. Jesus is basically saying God delights in revealing himself to those who are bold enough to bother him. And I hesitate to use that word, but it’s the point. We usually think of bother with a negative connotation. Nobody wants to be a bother.

This verse reminds us that God delights in listening to our prayers.

But I think about maybe I’m traveling, and I call home and my wife, Heather, has something heavy on her heart and she says, “Well, I don’t want to bother you with this.” How do you think I’m going to respond? I’m going to say, “Babe, I want to know the things that are heavy on your heart. I delight in being the one you want to bother with the problems and struggles and heartaches in your life.” It would bother me if you didn’t come to me, and this is God speaking to you today saying, “I want to be bothered by the things that are heavy on your heart.”

And so I want to lead us to pray. But hopefully in a way that leads you to pray more after I say amen. Just to pour out, in a fresh way right now before God the things that are heavy on your heart, the things you need, and to trust that he is ultimately able to provide for your needs and that he delights in you coming to him with them.

So God, we praise you for your love for us… For the open invitation to come before you on the throne of heaven with the details of our lives… And to know that you not only hear us and will answer us according to your Word…  And according to what you know is best, but that God, you encourage us to come before you boldly, shamelessly… To cry out for help from you, and you delight in meeting us in prayer and meeting our deepest needs. And so we pray now… As this podcast comes to a close… That you would teach us to boldly, shamelessly, humbly pour out our hearts to you, even now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.